Love Knows No Boundaries
by Thorn Hall
Summary: Snape finds himself feeling enchanted by the new DATDA's teacher, but so is Harry and..... Okay people, please read and review or I'll stop writing!!!


Disclaimer- All the characters and places in this story belong to J.K. Rowling, except Ophelia Nightshade who is my own original addition.

A.N- I wrote this before the release of the fourth book, but decided for some reason that I wanted to skip to his 5th year, so sorry for the confusion!

Love Knows No Boundaries  
  
Severus Snape sat quietly at his desk. The new school year would begin tomorrow, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. The noise and bustle of students in the halls was never comforting to him, but he reminded himself that he was better off here, safe, from his former life.  
  
The day had passed quickly and he couldn't help but wonder what lunatic Albus had picked-out to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but who-ever it was, Snape was prepared to give them a piece of his mind. As far as he was concerned, he had taught here long enough to qualify for a different class, never mind he had first hand experience with the dark arts. None-the-less he was anxiously waiting to tear the new professor apart, limb by limb, and there by prove to Albus that he was perfectly capable of taking on the, not so coveted, class.  
  
Finally the time came for the Hogwart's students to arrive. Like so many years before, the Hogwart's Professors took their places and the students took theirs. Snape carefully looked out among the cloud of students as the Sorting Ceremony took place. He easily picked out Harry Potter, whom he despised with every fiber of his being, and his smart-mouth friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Annoyed by the very sight of them, he turned his attention to the staff table, at which he sat, and there, among the rows of familiar faces, sat a new face. A woman who had to be no more than five years younger than he. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, with silken dark brown hair and eyes as dark and deep as the night sky. Although her features were dark, she seemed to embody a goodness that made the very air around her sparkle, she was intoxicating. He watched her throughout the rest of the banquet, and eagerly awaited the moment that she would stand before him.  
  
This moment came after the closing of the feast, Albus Dumbledore stood and directed her along the line of staff members that sat at the table. She finally came to Snape, at the end of the line.  
  
" Severus, this is Ophelia Nightshade," Dumbledore said rather cheerily, "she is the new professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course".

"Hello", said she in what was an unmistakable American accent. Snape opened his mouth to reply, but no sound escaped his lips, he was lost somewhere in the abysmal darkness of her eyes. He suddenly came to his senses as Dumbledore cleared his throat.  
"Hello, Miss Nightshade," he said, scolding himself for not responding immediately.  
  
Afterwards, he made his way to the dungeon-like, Slytherin Common room and was quite surprised to find Ophelia standing in the midst of the room, once again, with Dumbledore. "I'm terribly sorry to push this on you Severus, but Ophelia needs a room to stay in and the others are being used for storage at the moment. Therefore she has been assigned to stay in the room opposite your quarters and I was hoping that you would direct her there for me?"  
"Yes Albus, I would be..." he took a deep breath, "glad, to show Miss Nightshade to her room. Follow me." He had struggled to find the right words, and in truth was overcome with dread that he should say something that would make her despise him almost as much as he despised himself.  
  
He led her down a passageway hidden by a tapestry in the common room. It was dank and lit only by an occasional torch on the wall. They walk for several moments in silence until they reached the end of the passage in which there were two doors opposite one another.

"This is you room here," he made a quick gesture to the door on the right, "if you need anything, my room is here," and yet another fleeting gesture to the left door, "but for goodness sake don't come knocking at midnight asking for help with lessons!"

These words escaped him before he realized that they were there. He studied her reaction, which was one of very controlled acceptance. She than looked up to met his eyes and said rather coolly, "I assure you Professor, I am quite able to come up with lesson plans on my own, and if I have trouble finding my way around I will simply perform a compass spell. But I thank you for your offer," she smiled, a kind but equally cunning smile,

"good night, Professor."

She turned elegantly on her heels and glided into her room.

--------------------------------

"Aren't we hostile!"

Ophelia said sarcastically to herself as she leaned against the door. She couldn't believe that a Professor, with no more than maybe five years more experience then she, had just treated her like such a child! How dare he imply that she should need any help at all! She calmed herself down and looked around the room. It was too dark for her taste, and the walls, which were soaking wet, weren't exactly appealing. So, Ophelia whipped out her wand and gave it a quick flick.

The room suddenly grew bright and the stone walls became as dry as a desert. Her bags appeared in a corner of the room and she walked over to them and laid them out on the four-poster bed and began unpacking her brightly colored robes.

The next day began like any other for Ophelia; she awoke, got dressed in a bright turquoise robe, and grabbed her books and lesson plan. She walked out of her door moving as quickly as she could so as to reach her classroom before her students and collided head-on with none-other than Severus Snape. Ophelia's books and papers crashed to the ground.

She couldn't help but feel inferior as she bent down to pick up her things.

"I'm terribly sorry Professor," she said hastily. She looked up at him expecting to see an angry scowl but instead she found him smirking at her in a way that made her feel...uncomfortable.

"It's all right Miss Nightshade, just don't let it happen again." he said in his cold voice. She wondered as she watched him walk away, if he was always so cold and angry...

Ophelia arrived at the classroom right on time and made her way to the front. She carefully sat down her things and then stood tall, to command the attention of the room.  
"Hello everyone, My name is Ophelia Nightshade, but you all can just call me 'Professor'." She suddenly became aware of Minerva McGonagall standing at the back of the classroom listening to every word she said. Ophelia ignored her and continued as though she had never stopped.  
"Now, you will all have to bare with me, I understand that you're all behind, so we'll have to work fast and hard. Oh, and one last thing,"  
  
she looked about the room at all the inquisitive eyes that followed her every move. "If any of you have a problem with my methods of teaching or my dress, I would encourage you to tell me now or forever hold your peace."  
  
After a few moments of silence she smiled and reached for her lesson plan. "Right, I suppose we will just jump right in, let's start with the legendary vampire."

-------------------------------------------------------  
After a long hour of potions class Harry Potter climbed the stairs out of the dungeon with his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"What class are we heading to now?" Ron asked Hermione.

"Really Ron! If you paid more attention to your schedule you'd know!" she was obviously irritated.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry said, in the hopes of stopping a quarrel.

As they entered the familiar classroom Harry came face to face with their new teacher...

Harry felt his breath catch in his throat as her eyes met his... Hermione, taking notice of Harry's dumbstruck look, roughly grabbed his arm and dragged him to his seat. He watched Ophelia as she passed out a few introductory papers, her turquoise robes rippling out behind her.

The class period flew by and before they knew it, Harry and the rest of the fifth year Gryffindors were leaving. Hermione turned to Harry after a few moment silence and asked rather bluntly,

"Harry, do you fancy Professor Nightshade?" and though he did not respond, the deep blush that painted his cheeks was as good an answer as any.

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A.N : Okay, it starts off slow but it gets much better, trust me. Sorry it took me so long to update this... ta ta


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